Environmental Decentralization, Heterogeneous Environmental Regulation, and Green Total Factor Productivity—Evidence from China

Abstract

The effective enhancement of green total factor productivity (GTFP) through macro-regulatory tools—environmental decentralization and environmental regulation and thus the promotion of high-quality and sustainable economic development—is a hot topic of current research. However, many studies have focused on how environmental decentralization or environmental regulation affects green total factor productivity, lacking attention to the relationships and impact paths among the three. To clarify the mechanisms of action of the three effects, this paper measures the GTFP of 30 Chinese provinces and cities from 2010 to 2020 through the Super-SBM model. The mediating effect of environmental regulation between environmental decentralization and GTFP is examined. Firstly, the study findings suggested that environmental decentralization is significantly negatively related to GTFP, while different environmental regulations are all significantly positively related to GTFP. Secondly, environmental decentralization suppresses GTFP in eastern China, which has a non-significant effect in central China. It has a catalytic effect on GTFP in western China. Finally, environmental decentralization can enhance GTFP by promoting public participation in environmental regulation. The findings of this paper have implications for adjusting environmental decentralization, environmental regulation policies, and formulating green economic transition and development strategies.

Exploring Sustainable Economic Growth: Promoting Green Development Productivity through Decentralized Environmental Policy and Regional Competitiveness

“…The act of decentralizing environmental policies was associated with a decrease in green development productivity. The results of this research are in line with Fang &Luo et al (2023), that environmental decentralization has a negative effect on the productivity of green development. However, the absence of environmental policies in certain regions does not always correlate with a decline in green development quality.…”

“…Zou et al (2019), stated that environmental decentralization promotes development in neighboring regions. Meanwhile, Luo et al (2023) and Fang & Cao (2022) reported that environmental decentralization hinders the productivity of green economy development and reduces the quality of information disclosure.…”

Research on the Effect of Manufacturing Agglomeration on Green Use Efficiency of Industrial Land

“…The initial MA generally appears at a low level of economic development or a lower level of economic development and is manifested as the improvement of the level of MA to reduce GUEIL. The main reason is that, under the GDP-oriented official assessment mechanism, local governments are prone to “bottom-up competition”; they tend to attract investment to achieve rapid economic development by using low-priced industrial land concessions and relaxed environmental controls [ 26 ]. At this stage, the manufacturing industry is “artificially manufactured,” leading to serious enterprise homogeneity and a lack of “vertical” and “horizontal” industrialized division in the labor system and industrial connection.…”

Towards Sustainable Development: Investigating the Heterogeneity and Driving Factors of Green Total Factor Productivity in Coal Enterprises

“…On the one hand, it has been observed that new entrants in the coal industry exhibit a greater inclination towards innovation. This willingness to innovate allows them to maintain a high level of competitiveness, both among themselves and with established enterprises in the post-maturity stage [16]. On the contrary, in the maturity and post-mature stages, enterprises face significant costs associated with technological change.…”

“…Li et al [15] further explored the driving factors of GTFP and showed that resource abundance constrained regional GTFP growth and that environmental regulation, investment in science and technology, and human capital have positive effects on GTFP. Also, Fang et al [16] used the SBM-DEA method to measure the GTFP of extractive industries in China. These studies showed that foreign direct investment, industrialization level, and resource endowment had positive effects on GTFP and that investment in technological innovation had a negative effect on GTFP.…”